F-84 Thunderstreak - $6.49

This one sported the new fangled coke bottle waist that allowed it to (fairly) easily fly past MACH 1. This model can be used as a hitch hiker under the B-36 FG model.

Republic F-84 Downloadable Cardmodel

Republic F-84
Thunderstreak/Thunderbird

Originally designated YF-96A and first
flying on June 3, 1950, the Thunderstreak was a company-sponsored
swept-wing development of the F-84C Thunder jet. Official interest,
lukewarm at first, hardened soon after the outbreak of the Korean
War and the type was ordered into production with a designation
in the F-84 series and various design improvements.

The Thunderstreak's basic roles were interception
or ground attack, but its excellent range also made it a useful
escort aircraft. That excellent range was vastly improved when
it flew as a parasite for the giant..

In June 2005. Our designer pal, Rob Carleen, put together a 'conversion
kit' for the F-84G that, as you know, was the straight winged
earlier version of this important aircraft.. It comprises of the
straight wings, straight tail feathers and a couple wing tip tanks
that fit into the basic fuselage..It's included in the folder
along with bw, large and regular versions..(see bottom right)

NOTE: If you're going to use this for your B-36, simply bend the
horizontal stabilizer downward a bit.

What people say...

Have just downloaded the F84 and it looks terrific. Thanks.
Peter
..What I especially like is how you guys include bits and
pieces along with most models..Keep up the GREAT work chaps!!
Don

Howdy Folks, Here is a 1/2 size FiddlersGreen Republic F-84 Thunderstreak printed two parts pages on one 8.5 X 11 Red River Metallic Silver .006" paper resulting in a wing span of four and a half inches. The parts page was given four coatings of Krylon Clear Acrylic Gloss and allowed to dry overnight. Aleene's Tacky Glue spots and smudges were easily removed without damaging the printed surface during assembly. Constructing the model in this size did not require any stiffening of the Red River paper. Cardboard discs were sandwiched in-between the tires for thickness and thin wire was used for landing gear support.
Bob Penikas

Republic F-84

Originally designated YF-96A and first flying on June 2, 1950, the
Thunderstreak was a company-sponsored swept-wing development of
the F-84C Thunder jet. Official interest, lukewarm at first, hardened
soon after the outbreak of the Korean Way and the type was ordered
into production with a designation in the F-84 series and various
design improvements, among them the substitution of the Wright 165
(Sapphire) in place of the original underpowered Allison. By August
1957, Republic and General Motors had built 1,410 F-84 's for TAC
and SAC (USAF) and 1,301 for various NATO forces.The US Thunderstreak's
were relegated to units of the ANG in the early 1960s.

Originally designated YF-96A and first flying on 3
June 1950, the Thunderstreak was a company-sponsored swept-wing
development of the F-84C Thunder jet. Official interest, lukewarm
at first, hardened soon after the outbreak of the Korean Way and
the type was ordered into production with a designation in the F-84
series and various design improvements, among them the substitution
of the Wright 165 (Sapphire) in place of the original underpowered
Allison. By August 1957, Republic and General Motors had built 1,410
F-84 's for TAC and SAC (USAF) and 1,301 for various NATO forces.

The US Thunderstreak's were relegated to units of the
ANG in the early 1960s The Thunderstreak's basic roles were interception
or ground attack, but its excellent range also made it a useful
escort aircraft.

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak of the Turkish Air Form,
circa 1964

Like the Thunderstreak, its range was considerably extended by
twin drop-tanks, and the Thunder flash had four 0.50in guns. Of 715
RF-84Fs built, 386 were supplied to Belgium, Nationalist China,
Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway
and Turkey. The Dutch aircraft were replaced by the F-104 Stair fighter. ANG units in the USA also employed the RF-84F.

REPUBLIC F-84 THUNDERJET, THUNDERSTREAK, THUNDERFLASH

Alexander Kartveli and his design team started to explore possible
layouts for a jet powered fighter-bomber which might be a worthy
successor to the P-47 towards the end of 1944, at the same time
that Lockheed and North American were initiating design studies
on prototypes which were to result in the P-80 and the P-86. In
the early stages, the Thunderbolt's creator considered the simple expedient of installing
a jet engine in the P-47 airframe but he very soon decided to start
from scratch again, with a completely new design for a cantilever
low-wing monoplane, with straight and laminar flow wing and cantilevered
horizontal tail planes mounted half way up the vertical fin.

Structure was all-metal with a duralumin skin and for the first
time in an American jet fighter, the air inlet for the turbine engine
was to be located in the nose. The pressurized cockpit was equipped
with ejector seat and had a teardrop canopy; a large airbrake was
installed in the belly of the plane, below the cockpit.

The USAAF's Materiel Division liked the look of this aircraft
with its classic lines and ordered three prototypes and 400 additional
aircraft, designated P-84, in March, 1945. The end of the war caused
the cancellation of the remainder of the Thunderbolt production
program which left Republic fully committed to this new program,
on which its future depended. On February 28, 1946, Major William
Lien took off from Muroc Dry Lake (later renamed Edwards AFB) the
first XP-84, powered by the 3,7501b (1,701kg) General Electric 5-GE-7 turbojet.

The Thunder jet, as it was called, was the first new American fighter
to have its maiden flight after the end of World War and on September
7, 1946, it set a new American speed record, at 612 mph (983km/h),
having the world speed record snatched from it by the British Gloster
Meteor that same day, over in England.

With victory for the United States and its allies, all existing
orders had been suspended but then, on January 15, 1946, the USAAF
confirmed its order for 15 YP-84A research aircraft and 85 series
P-84Bs. The YP-84A was powered by13 Allison engine instead of the
General Electric power plant, had tip tanks and was armed with six
.50in machine guns, four mounted in the nose and two in the wings.

The 15 YP-84A aircraft and the third prototype (which were virtually
identical) were delivered for evaluation by the user by April, 1947,
and the aircraft proved satisfactory all respects. Production of
the P-84B, redesignated F-84B in mid-1948, totaled 226 aircraft,
lasting from June, 1947, until February, 1948, and the first of
these went to 14th Fighter Group (37th, 48th and 49th Squadrons).

After a batch of 191 F-94Cs which were identical to the F-84B except
for the engine used and for some detail changes and refinements,
production switched to 154 F-8413s in 1948: this was a much improved
variant, with the new, more powerful J35-A-17D engine, it was followed
by 843 of the F-84E longest-range version with stretched fuselage,
radar and increased stores and armament provision. One hundred of
these F-84Es were the first Thunder jets to enter service with the
air forces of America's NATO allies, followed by 1,936 of the series
F-84G which had the traditional wing and was the variant built in
the largest number.

The F-84G was the last un swept wing aircraft
deployed by the USAF and was used by Strategic Air Command until
1956, and afterwards by Tactical Air Command for a few years longer;
it was more effective than its predecessors, equipped with LABS
(Low Altitude Bombing System), flight refueling probe, autopilot
and the ability to carry and deliver bombs with nuclear warheads.

The first Thunder jets to have a taste of battle were the F-84E
series aircraft of 27th Fighter-Escort Wing (522nd, 523rd and 524th
Squadrons) in December, 1950, in Korea and they were joined during
the course of that campaign by the F-84s flown by 49th Group (7th,
8th, 9th Squadrons); 58th (69th, 310th, 311th); 474th (428th, 429th,
430th) in 1951, and 1952. At first the Thunder jets were used to
escort bombers but when the swept-wing MiG-15 appeared on the scene,
which could out fly all the American fighters, they were used as
fighter-bombers to outstanding effect, earning widespread respect
for their effectiveness.

The Republic F-84 Thunder jet, the best of the first generation
jet fighters. It was designed by the creator of the outstanding
P-47 Thunderbolt, Alexander Kartveli, and the F-84 echoed in a
more modern and aggressive way the success of its illustrious
predecessor. As many as 7,889 aircraft in numerous variants (amongst
which the last one, the F-84F, was a major redesign of the original
version, having a swept wing) left the assembly lines and of these
almost half, 3,723 aircraft equipped the air forces of NATO countries
within the context of American post-war military aid programs.
In Italy for example the Aeronautica Militare put F-84s into service
in 1952 and kept the RF-84F photo-reconnaissance variant in use
until 1974. In the USAF the Thunder jet/Thunderstreak/Thunder flash
(these were the names of the principal variants of the F-84) stayed
in first line service until the middle of the sixties.

The design of the F-84 had originated as far back as 1944 when Alexander
Kartveli had started to think about developing a jet version of
the P-47 Thunderbolt.. The basic design of the F-84 was completed
before the end of that year after a long series of experiments and
plans using various power plants which were being developed at that
time. The prototype was built round the General Electric TG-180
turbojet (subsequently called J35). and at the beginning of 1945
this design effort was rewarded by an order for three aircraft which
were designated XP-84 and for 400 series aircraft.

The first prototype had its maiden flight on 28th February 1946
and the second followed in August. At the end of the test flights,
production started off with 25 pre-series models designated YP-84
and subsequently went on to the manufacture of the definitive variant,
the F-84B. The new fighter reached units from the summer of 1947
onwards and procurement was 226. The following version was the C
model (which first flew in April 1948) which had structural details
changed, and of which 191 were built. In November the following
year the first F-84Ds appeared (154 built) which had stronger airframe
and more powerful engines. These Thunder jets were the first to be
used in the Korean War where they gave a good account of themselves.

On 18th May 1949 the prototype of the following production variant
was flown, the F-84E (843 built) which was again modified and the
fuselage was about 30 cm longer. Finally, in November 1950, the
fifth and last straight-winged-version appeared, the F-84G (3,025
built) which was developed specifically at the request of Tactical
Air Command who needed a light fighter-bomber able to deliver tactical
nuclear weapons. The Thunder jets were the first single-seater's able
to carry out such tasks.

In the following variant, the F-84F, the configuration of the
aircraft was drastically changed when a 45' swept wing was adopted;
the prototype flew on 5th June 1950 and the first series aircraft
(named Thunderstreak) flew on 22nd November 1952. A total of
2,711 were built which went into service from 1954 onwards and
represented the final stage of the design as a straight combat
plane. The final version, the RF-84F. was for photo-reconnaissance.

One of only two US swept-wing fighters derived directly from
existing straight-wing aircraft to achieve production status
(the other being the Grumman F9F Cougar), the Thunderstreak
was conceived during a period of acute governmental parsimony
towards new warplane development. Stemming from a late-1949
proposal (AP-23M) to mate the fuselage of the F-84E with sweptback
surfaces and utilize up to 55 per cent of existing tooling,
the project underwent incremental redesign that produced a
fundamentally new fighter- bomber retaining no commonality
with its precursor. A standard F-84E fuselage fitted with
a new wing swept-back 40 deg at quarter-chord and sweptback
tail surfaces flew on 3 June 1950 as the YF-96A powered by
a 5,300 lb st Allison J35-A-25. This designation
was changed to YF-84F on the following 8 September, at which
time the name Thunderstreak was adopted.

The first of two further YF-84Fs with the J35-A-25 supplanted
by the imported Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engine flew on 14
February 1951, this having a deeper nose air intake and fuselage
to accommodate the larger turbojet. The third YF-84F which followed
had extended wing roots embodying engine air intakes, but these
lateral orifices caused substantial thrust losses and were consequently
rejected for the series fighter, although subsequently adopted
for the tactical reconnaissance RF-84F Thunder flash.

As the
Wright J65, the Sapphire was licence -manufactured for the series
F-84F, the first example of which flew on 22 November 1952 with
a YJ65-W-1 engine of 7,220 lb st. The -1 power plant
equipped the first 275 Thunderstreak's, and a further 100 or
so had the improved -1A. These engines then gave place (F-84F-5)
to the similarly-rated, but more reliable, J65-W-3 (or Buick-built
J65-B-3). The USAF accepted its first F-84Fs on 3 December 1952,
these presenting numerous problems, not least of which was inadequate
high-speed longitudinal and lateral control.

In consequence,
initial operational deployment (506th SFW) was delayed until
January 1954, but the F-84F remained of limited use as a result
of its unsatisfactory engine and other deficiencies. Some of
the less pleasant handling characteristics of the Thunderstreak
were alleviated by introduction of an all-flying tail (F-84F-25)
in 1954, and NATO began to receive this fighter-bomber early
in 1955. The F-84F carried a built-in armament of six 0.5-in
(12,7mm) M3 guns and was capable of lifting 6,000 lb of ordnance externally. Late production aircraft (F-84F-50)
received the J65-W-7 (or J65-B-7) engine of 7,800 lb st, and the last of 2,348 Thunderstreak's (of which 237 were
built by General Motors) was delivered in August 1957.

U.S. AIR NATIONAL GUARD SERVICE
An excerpt from an email regarding ANG F-84F service in Europe
during the
Cold War:

Above, you'll find a plane from Bach's unit (NJ ANG) just
landed at Chaumont AB, France, having completed the ferry light
from the US during 'Operation Stairstep' -- Nova Scotia to Greenland
to Iceland to Scotland to air bases in England and France. This
was the height of the Cold War when we stood toe-to-toe with the
Russians and East Germans at the Wall.

Apparently the USAF didn't
feel they had enough muscle in Europe, so they called up the
reserves -- literally. Pilots of Air National Guard units from
several states, flying F-84Fs (air to ground and ground troop
support) and RF-84Fs (reconnaissance) flew their planes across
the North Atlantic to lend support in the event of a confrontation
with the Eastern Bloc nations. This was one of the more frightening
episodes in this country's post-WWII history, surpassed perhaps
only by the Cuban Missile Crisis."Bob Young